Perhaps it is a sign of the times in Latin America that both the candidates in Peru’s run-off ballot for the presidency, on June 5th, support the continuation of the free-market policies that have made the country one of the region’s most successful economies, The Economist notes:
After all, Peru is heading for economic growth of around 4% this year, while the region as a whole faces its second year of recession. What is at stake in the election is something more basic, if the campaign rhetoric is to be believed: what kind of government do Peruvians want, and for whom should it govern?
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a liberal former economy minister, argues that victory for his opponent, Keiko Fujimori, means “the return of dictatorship, corruption and lies”, as he put it in the final campaign debate on May 29th. “I am convinced that freedom is at serious risk in Peru,” he declared.
In a country with almost no real political parties, “anti-Fujimorismo” has become the most powerful political ideology, the paper adds:
The main reason for believing that her victory, assuming it happens, would not entail political regression is not just that she is not her father. Peruvian democracy is stronger than it was in the 1990s, and both the media and civil society are less biddable than they were. But Peruvians will need to be alert.
